source:pocketnow

Dual Windows Phone/Android handset planned for the US by summer

A little earlier today we were talking about one of the two big changes to Windows Phone licensing rumored last year that have actually come to pass, with Microsoft dropping licensing fees for some of its new OEMs. The other rumor that proved to be true concerned Microsoft giving the OK for OEMs to use Windows Phone in the context of a dual-boot smartphone, giving users the option to boot into Android. One of those new OEMs, Karbonn, is supposed to release such a device before the end of the year, but now we get word of one that could be out much sooner (and available for sale a lot closer to home), as Huawei shares plans for a dual-OS phone of its own.

Huawei exec Shao Yang recently spoke with Trusted Reviews, and he’s clear that his company is much more interested in dual-boot WP/Android phones than simply straight Windows Phone models, saying, “if it is Windows only, maybe people will not find it as easy a decision to buy the phone. If they have the Android and Windows together, you can change it as you wish and it is much easier for people to choose Windows Phone.”

Better still, Yang gets quite specific with Huawei’s intent for releasing such a phone, affirming that it will be available sometime in Q2 2014, and indicates that the company plans to sell the phone in the US market (and presumably others, as well).

That’s incredibly soon, and means that this phone could be in our hands before summer. Will dual-platform models be great ways to introduce new users to Windows Phone, or will the cross-OS functionality ultimately be an underused novelty? We’re about to find out.